INTRODUCTION
Diethylstilbestrol (DES), a synthetic estrogen widely prescribed in the past for the prevention of miscarriage is currently the subject of much drug litigation. The association between clear-cell adenocarcinoma of the vagina in young females, a rare cancer which was virtually unknown before the use of DES, and prenatal exposure to DES is firmly established. It is estimated that in the female DES-exposed population, four in one thousand women will develop clear-cell adenocarcinoma. Almost fifty deaths have resulted from prenatal exposure to DES.
The Relevancy of Drug Efficacy Evidence in Strict Liability Actions: Needham v. White Laboratories,
Inc, The John Marshall Law Review, Volume 14 | Issue 3 Article 2, Summer 1981.
DES daughters, and DES sons as well, suffer from a variety of maladies which presently are considered benign, but are suspected to be precancerous. For example, it is estimated that adenosis, the abnormal presence of benign glandular tissue in the vagina, occurs in eighty to ninety percent of the female population exposed in utero to DES, yet adenosis is found histologically in over ninety-seven percent of DES daughters who have adenocarcinoma of the vagina. DES daughters also may develop various abnormalities of the cervix. Recent research reveals that a number of DES sons also suffer from abnormalities which may result in sterility, and a preliminary study suggests the need for research on whether in utero DES exposure may be associated with a risk for testicular cancer.
DES mothers, also, are subject to an increased risk of endometrial cancer. In addition, a recent follow-up study of DES mothers shows that they have an increased risk of breast cancer. Researchers’ views differ as to the significance of this increase, however, animal studies demonstrate that estrogen increases the frequency of carcinomas of the breast, cervix, vagina, kidney, and liver.
DES daughters have instituted a number of legal actions against drug manufacturers. DES mothers who were unknowing participants in a 1953 study to determine the effectiveness of DES are litigating a class action suit against the University of Chicago Lying-in Hospital and Eli Lilly Company. At least one suit has been filed by a DES son who is suffering from testicular cancer.
DES litigation has fostered the articulation of new theory, as well as the creative application of established theory, in the area of tort law. The majority of the decisions favor DES defendants. The recent decision of the Seventh Circuit in Needham v. White Laboratories, Inc., reversing a jury’s determination of drug manufacturer liability, deals a drastic blow to drug injured plaintiffs seeking to hold drug manufacturers strictly liable in tort. The reversal is significant because Needham is the first appellate reversal of a DES plaintiff’s jury verdict and its impact on drug litigation is far reaching. This article will analyze the Needham decision within the context of strict liability principles appropriate to the drug industry.
Needham v. White Laboratories, Inc.
Plaintiff Needham’s mother ingested dienestrol, a synthetic estrogen similar to DES, while she was pregnant with the plain- tiff. At the age of twenty, plaintiff discovered she had the rare clear-cell adenocarcinoma of the vagina, which made surgical removal of all her reproductive organs necessary. Plaintiff sued White Laboratories, the manufacturer of dienestrol, on theories of negligence, strict liability in tort, and fraud and deceit. Plaintiff’s strict liability claim was based on two theories: failure to properly warn of the risk of cancer from exposure to dienestrol; and production of a drug which was defective in that it was useless and unreasonably dangerous in the treatment of threatened or habitual abortion. Plaintiff’s two theories of negligence were based on defendant’s failure to test dienestrol in accordance with 1952 medical research standards and to warn of its dangers.
Before instructions were given to the Needham jury, the Illinois Supreme Court held in Woodill v. Parke Davis Co , that a manufacturer is strictly liable for failure to warn of a risk of injury if the manufacturer knew or should have known of the product’s danger. The Woodill majority asserted that it was not imposing a negligence standard. Although a knowledge requirement injects an element of fault which, in theory, is absent in strict liability, in the court’s view, failure to warn based on strict liability remains separate and distinct from failure to warn based on negligence. The court did not clearly define this difference; however, given its extensive reliance on comment k to section 402A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts, it seems reasonable to presume that the comment may provide an explanation.
Comment k and Evidence of Efficacy
The comment k exception to strict liability is created for unavoidably unsafe products, and it applies particularly to drugs, which in the present state of human knowledge, are quite incapable of being made safe for their intended and ordinary use. The sale of such products may be justified, provided a warning is given when necessary, because the benefit of using the product appears to outweigh the attendant risk.
Relying on both Woodill and the comment k strict liability exception for unavoidably unsafe products, the district court in Needham allowed plaintiff to present evidence of dienestrol’s ineffectiveness to counter defendant’s reliance on the comment k exception to strict liability. The district court reasoned that if comment k did not apply because the sale of dienestrol was not justifled–i.e., it had no apparent usefulness to outweigh any risk of harm-then the defendant could be liable for marketing the drug even if the plaintiff could not prove the defendant knew it was dangerous and yet failed to give a warning. The relevant issue would be whether defendant knew or should have known that the drug was ineffective or not apparently useful, not whether defendant knew it was dangerous. The district court also noted that evidence of dienestrol’s ineffectiveness was relevant to plaintiff’s alternate theory of strict liability that dienestrol was defective and unreasonably dangerous because it was ineffective and caused cancer. The essence of this alternate theory is that dienestrol was not fit for its intended use.
The Seventh Circuit’s View
The jury returned a general verdict against the defendant and assessed damages of $800,000. On appeal, the Seventh Circuit reversed and remanded for a new trial, holding that evidence of dienestrol’s effectiveness or ineffectiveness was irrelevant and prejudicial. The court’s decision was premised on the notion that Illinois recognizes two types of strict liability drug actions involving warnings which are set forth in comments j and k to section 402A: complete failure to give a warning; and failure to give an adequate warning. In the Seventh Circuit’s view, comment k contemplates only the latter instance in which some warning is given but is inadequate. Here, a manufacturer is entitled to comment k protection only if the product’s benefits outweigh its risks. If no warning at all is given, comment j governs the action. The court reasoned that efficacy evidence is relevant only in a comment k case because, in that instance, the drug’s benefits must be balanced against its risks. In a comment j case, where no warning is given, efficacy evidence is irrelevant, according to the court, because the manufacturer’s liability turns on whether it had knowledge of the risk about which it failed to warn. Concluding that the defendant in Needham failed to give a warning of the risk of cancer from ingesting its product, the circuit court held that comment j governed, and evidence of dienestrol’s ineffectiveness was therefore irrelevant and prejudicial to the defendant. The court also asserted that Illinois law did not support plaintiff’s alternate theory of strict liability, and accordingly efficacy evidence was not relevant to this theory.
The court’s decision rests on an erroneous interpretation of Woodill. The court characterized Woodill as a comment j case and announced flatly that Illinois had not yet decided a comment k case. In fact, comments j and k may be read together for the purpose of determining whether any given case should be governed by a strict liability standard. Thus, in actions against the manufacturers of concededly beneficial drugs, liability must be premised on defendant’s knowledge of the risk of injury. These cases, unlike Needham, have not involved a challenge to the claimed benefits of the drug. In the absence of such a challenge, an initial presumption that benefits outweigh risks is made. Once this presumption is made, the manufacturer’s liability for failure to warn, under comment k, turns on whether the drug is properly prepared and accompanied by warnings of known dangers. If the drug is accompanied by a warning of known risks of injury and is properly prepared, the manufacturer is not liable for harm caused by its dangerous product. If, on the other hand, the manufacturer knows or should know of the drug’s risks, and fails either to warn or to properly prepare the drug, the drug is considered to be unreasonably dangerous and the manufacturer is liable for harm caused.
Where the assumption that a drug is beneficial is challenged, as in Needham, the court must initially determine whether or not the drug’s usefulness is outweighed by its risks. Efficacy evidence is crucial to this determination. If the drug’s risks outweigh its usefulness, the manufacturer will be liable for its unreasonably dangerous product irrespective of its ignorance of the risk of injury.
The Seventh Circuit failed to note that Illinois courts had never been confronted with a strict liability, failure to warn action involving a challenge to the drug’s usefulness. Whether comment k protection from strict liability should be extended to such a case had never been called into question. Comment k imposes a knowledge of risk requirement for failure to warn cases which involve beneficial drugs. Thus, comment k expresses a policy of not imposing strict-where knowledge is irrelevant-liability where a manufacturer has undertaken to supply the public with a useful drug. Where, however, the drug manufacturer has not marketed a useful drug, the rationale for protecting the manufacturer from strict liability is absent. Public policy negates the argument that comment k protection may be invoked before it is established that defendant marketed a relatively beneficial drug. But for the principal case, no Illinois precedent would support such an expansive interpretation of comment k.
THE NATURE OF THE DRUG INDUSTRY
High Profits; Few Losses
An understanding of the nature of the drug industry is essential to understanding the legal, factual, and policy issues that the Needham cases raises. The drug industry has been described as one of both high profits and high returns. During congressional hearings in 1972, the drug industry was characterized as practically unique in that 1osses or even low profits, are virtually unheard of among larger companies. Although drug companies attempt to justify high profits by pointing to the extreme risks inherent in the development of new drugs, critics note that if extreme risks justify high profits, one would expect to see “occasional losses” by some firms instead of “consistently high industrywide profits.
The fear that imposing strict liability on the sellers of drugs would result in depriving consumers of essential drugs, has little basis in reality. One commentator has argued that this fear should not shape the development of strict liability law in the absence of substantial empirical supporting data showing that the profit margin in the drug industry is so low that the industry could not bear the cost of compensation for the injuries it produces. This argument is especially persuasive when the industry produces, promotes, and obtains large profits from a drug like DES, whose efficacy and concommitant benefits are questionable, and which is also capable of causing serious injury. Such products are particularly appropriate subjects for strict liability.
“Me Too” Practices
Another unusual feature of the drug industry is the “me too” practice of developing new drugs. “Me too” drugs are typically made by slightly deviating from the molecular make-up of an already marketed drug. Molecular manipulation is of no significant therapeutic value. The practice does, however, enable a manufacturer to market a theoretically “new” drug without violating a patent or obtaining a licensing agreement from the manufacturer who invented the original product. Thus, drug companies expend considerable research money to develop drugs which vary only slightly from the original product.
The result is a proliferation of company trade names for essentially one product. The Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) task force on prescription drugs determined that important new chemical entities represent only a fraction, perhaps 10-20%, of all new products introduced each year, while the remainder consist merely of minor modifications of combination products. The task force concluded that many of the drug industry’s research and development activities would appear to provide only minor contributions to medical progress. A more important concern, especially in the case of DES-related products, is that a single defect in the original drug may be common to all similar products subsequently manufactured.
DES, dienestrol, and related DES products are poignant examples of drug industry “me too” practices. DES was unpatented by its original inventor. In 1941, twelve drug companies submitted a joint clinical file to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as part of their New Drug Application (NDA) request for permission to market DES. These companies also agreed on common chemical standards, uniform labeling, and product literature for the drug to be manufactured by each of them. The companies did not request permission to market DES to prevent threatened or habitual abortion until 1947.
In 1946, White Laboratories obtained permission to market dienestrol for the same use as DES.64 DES and dienestrol are virtually identical in action and toxicity; dienestrol, specifically marketed to be competitive with DES, was described by the former medical director of White Laboratories as a “me too” drug.
In 1948, a year after other companies received permission to market DES for use in the treatment of threatened abortion, White Laboratories submitted a supplemental NDA requesting permission to market dienestrol for the same use in pregnancy. Its intent in marketing dienestrol was to compete with DES; dienestrol had no advantages over DES for use in pregnant women. Moreover, when White Laboratories requested permission to market dienestrol, it did no independent testing of dienestrol’s safety in pregnant women or their offspring. The supplemental NDA contained only two summaries of case reports by two different doctors to show that dienestrol would do what White Laboratories claimed it could do-prevent habitual or threatened abortion. These case reports were characterized by two eminent researchers as grossly inadequate demonstrations of these claims.
The FDA Then and Now
White Laboratories argued that FDA approval of dienestrol absolved the company of responsibility for failure to test dienestrol adequately before marketing it. While some authority exists for this proposition, most courts have held that FDA approval does not discharge the obligation of the drug manufacturer to test adequately for and warn of its product’s risks of danger.
The premise underlying the argument that FDA regulations define only minimal standards, may well be an accurate assessment of the FDA’s role in the 1950s and today. Prior to 1962, a drug manufacturer’s NDA was automatically approved if the FDA did not object to the marketing of the drug. While the FDA must now act positively to approve a drug for marketing, it still only reviews a report of data provided by the drug manufacturer. The FDA does not test the drug independently, and the drug manufacturer, consequently, has complete control over what data is submitted. While the FDA may refuse to approve of a drug until a manufacturer performs additional tests, the ultimate responsibility for providing the clinical data upon which the agency will make its final determination rests with the party who has the greatest interest in a favorable response.
Data submitted by drug manufacturers has often been criticized by the FDA as scientifically inadequate; some has even been shown to be fraudulently concealed or rigged. Clinical investigators hired by drug companies to investigate their drugs have also been criticized as tending to skew data in favor of their employers. Many articles extolling a drug’s virtues or minimizing its harmful effects, which are published in respectable medical journals, have been sponsored by the drug company that manufactured the drug. A substantial number of these articles have been written within the confines of the pharmaceutical houses concerned. Moreover, medical journals rely on drug advertising as a major source of financing. Some medical journals which, by virtue of their ownership, are captives of certain drug houses, have printed inaccurate articles on the miraculous effects of new drugs. Once a drug has been authenticated by publication, the drug manufacturer cites the article as authority for its advertising claims.
Promotional Practices
Not only is the FDA dependent upon drug manufacturers for information about their drugs, but the prescribing physician also relies on the drug manufacturer for information about a drug’s safety and instructions for use. Medical practitioners simply cannot keep abreast of numerous medical articles, scattered in hundreds of journals, on each new drug which appears on the market. Consequently, doctors rely on product information supplied by the drug companies through advertising in drug brochures and medical journals, and detail men who personally visit a doctor to promote a specific drug.
Advertising
The proliferation of “me too” drugs, each with its own brand name, makes advertising the important variable in the fight for increased sales. Drug companies spend enormous amounts of money to influence a doctor’s choice of a brand name drug. A brand name often is easier to remember than the more complex generic name. Drug manufacturers inundate doctors daily with a “torrent of new drug advertising” which is “confusing” and “misleading.” Frequently, warnings appearing in a brochure about drug side effects are tucked neatly away behind a “stream of literature which extols the claimed virtues of the drug so glowingly that it takes attention away from the hazards of the drug. The physician simply is “bombarded with seductive advertising which fails to tell the truth;” which often misleads him or her to prescribe a new drug without adequate information about possible side effects and without any “solid clinical evidence that the drug is effective or even as safe as the advertisers claim.”
The advertising practices of DES manufacturers are subject to these criticisms. Claims of DES’s safety and effectiveness in the treatment of threatened and habitual abortion abounded in advertisements within reputable medical journals. Some advertisements recommended DES as a routine prophylaxis in all pregnancies.
Detail Men
Since drug manufacturers daily send physicians more drug information than they can possibly read or remember, physicians rely on detail men for drug information. Detail men frequently minimize their product’s dangers while emphasizing its effectiveness and wide acceptance. This practice has resulted in drug manufacturer liability despite a printed warning.
White Laboratories utilized detail men to distribute a brochure to doctors about dienestrol’s indicated use. The brochure was a promotional effort which White Laboratories knew would be relied upon by doctors. The distribution was a form of salesmanship, and the dienestrol brochure was the product information provided to doctors. This brochure only contained references to studies and a personal communication which reported estrogen to be an effective method of preventing accidents of pregnancy. Although the medical director and management of White Laboratories were aware of studies which indicated that DES had no value in preventing threatened abortion and studies which demonstrated that estrogens caused cancer and fetal abnormalities, these studies were not included in the dienestrol brochure. Although a statement that use of estrogen was considered investigational was included, any reference to risk was omitted.
HISTORY OF THE MEDICAL CONTROVERSY SURROUNDING DES
DES As a Carcinogen
At trial, plaintiff presented “extensive evidence describing studies prior to 1952” which suggested a causal relationship between synthetic estrogen and cancer in animals. Dr. Michael Shimkin, “one of the earliest and still among the most eminent researchers in the field,” testified that by 1940 the scientific community viewed the eventual demonstration of synthetic estrogen’s carcinogenic effects in humans to be a “lead pipe cinch.” In his view, any drug manufacturer should have been aware of this. Dr. Shimkin also described in extensive detail several pre-1952 studies which demonstrated that the introduction of estrogen into the system of a pregnant animal could affect her offspring, and that the introduction of other carcinogens into the system of a pregnant animal could cause cancer in the offspring. Dr. Shimkin concluded that, in 1952, any drug firm planning to market a drug like dienestrol for use in pregnant women should have viewed animal testing for intergenerational effects as essential. The drug company also should have warned of the risk of cancer in 1952.
Dr. Neary, White Laboratories’ medical director at the time dienestrol was marketed, testified that it was “standard practice” when dealing with a new drug to consider publications on both clinical use of the drug and animal experimentation with the drug.110 At the time dienestrol was marketed, Dr. Neary was familiar with a 1940 study which revealed abnormalities in male and female offspring of female rats injected with estrogen. He acknowledged that estrogens had been shown to induce tumor formation in animals. He also knew, at that time, of a warning issued by the editors of the Canadian Medical Journal that since synthetic estrogens were chemically related to some carcinogenic substances, notably coal tar, a warning was justified on purely theoretical grounds.
In 1948, a doctor who was later employed by White Laboratories had written that endometrial hyperplasia in humans could be considered a precancerous lesion. Dr. Neary acknowledged that endometrial hyperplasia was an expected pharmacological effect of estrogen use. He also admitted that he knew the tissue of the developing fetus was more susceptible than adult tissue to carcinogenic transformation. Yet, prior to marketing dienestrol for use in pregnant women, Dr. Neary did not commission any research to determine whether estrogens caused cancer in the mother or the child.
At trial, and on appeal, White Laboratories disputed the importance and applicability of animal studies to the human experience and argued that these studies could not provide notice of the need for human testing. Dr. Shimkin, however, was “unequivocal” in his assertions that the animal studies were known at that time to indicate potential danger to humans. Although Dr. Neary recognized the relevance of animal research to certain aspects of new drug development, he believed that the application of animal studies to human beings was controversial. 121 Consequently, prior to marketing dienestrol for use in pregnant women, the management of White Laboratories consciously decided not to do any testing to determine whether dienestrol was safe for use in human beings.
The district court’s ruling in Needham which upheld the evidentiary use of animal studies to show knowledge of a risk of injury in humans was correct. In other drug cases, courts have considered the results of animal tests which revealed injuries similar to but not the same as the injuries sustained by a plaintiff to be evidence of knowledge or notice of the risk of injury which required a warning about that risk. A manufacturer is deemed to constructively know the results which testing and inspection of its product could have revealed. Courts accordingly have based liability on inadequate testing, together with failure to warn. It hardly seems fair to the consuming public to allow a drug manufacturer which has failed to test its product to escape liability for failure to warn about dangers which could have been discovered by adequate testing. “The claim that a hazard was not foreseen is not available” to a drug manufacturer who does not “use foresight appropriate to his enterprise.”
Risks versus Benefits: Dienestrol as an Ineffective Therapeutic Agent
Standards for Testing Drugs
Dr. Shimkin testified that recognized testing methods existed in 1948 to determine drug safety and efficacy. He identified the principle method of scientific testing as the controlled experiment, which scientists viewed as an important means to eliminate bias. Controlled experiments were considered essential to evaluate the ability of estrogen to prevent threatened abortion because pregnancy is affected by many factors, such as diet and psychological state. Consequently, it would be imperative to design a study which would control for these factors by treating all research subjects in the same manner. Use of a placebo in the nonmedicated group compared to use of the experimental drug in the medicated group is an example of such a control. The paradigm of controlled experiments, and the most favored testing method in 1952, is the double blind study in which neither the researcher nor the research subject knows whether the drug given is a placebo or a real drug-in all respects both groups being compared are treated and evaluated in the same manner.
Claims of Effectiveness from Poorly Controlled Studies
Articles published by Drs. Olive and George Smith in the late 1940s were primarily responsible for the belief that DES would reduce the incidence of threatened abortion. The Smiths theorized that a lack of the hormone progesterone caused early termination of pregnancy, and that DES could stimulate production of progesterone, thereby preventing abortion. Other scientists severely criticized both the theory that reduced progesterone caused abortion, and the method that the Smiths used to measure the efficacy of DES and its alleged progesterone stimulating qualities. As early as 1949, the Smiths were severely criticized for lack of adequate controls, and controlled studies performed in the early 1950s refuted the Smiths’ claims of DES effectiveness in preventing threatened abortion.
White Laboratories’ Decision to Market Dienestrol to Treat Threatened Abortion
The medical director of White Laboratories, Dr. Neary, relied on the Smiths’ articles to establish DES effectiveness in the treatment of threatened abortion. Before submitting the supplemental NDA to the FDA, Dr. Neary reviewed the published material concerning the use of estrogen in experimental animals and humans. He knew that the usefulness of DES in treating threatened abortion was controversial, and he informed the management of White Laboratories of this controversy. The supplemental NDA, however, did not list any publication which indicated that the use of DES was controversial.
In a letter to White Laboratories, the American Medical Association questioned the effectiveness of dienestrol and criticized the NDA data as “completely uncontrolled,” resulting in “obscure” criteria for the use of estrogen in treating threatened abortion. Nevertheless, Dr. Neary failed to conduct further tests to determine the effectiveness of dienestrol. He did inform management of two studies indicating that DES was of no value and a “dismal failure” in preventing threatened abortion, and also told management that pregnant animals treated with estrogen had aborted. These facts, however, were not included in the supplemental NDA or the product information brochure, although White Laboratories and Dr. Neary knew that doctors would rely on the brochure to determine dosage and instructions for use.
Dr. Albert Schmitt, an obstetrician who has done extensive work with DES-related problems, described these reports as “inadequate testing,” and also characterized as irresponsible the Smiths’ suggested hundredfold increase in dosage for pregnant women. Both Dr. Schmitt and Dr. Shimkin criticized White Laboratories’ reliance on the Smiths’ articles to determine dienestrol’s safety and efficacy in the treatment of threatened abortion: a review of articles which favored estrogen use in pregnant women and which were of questionable authority because of poor testing methodology was unacceptable premarketing practice. In Dr. Shimkin’s view, more premarket testing of dienestrol was required because estrogens were well known to be carcinogenic.
RELEVANCE OF DRUG EFFICACY EVIDENCE IN STRICT LIABILITY ACTIONS
The District Court’s Ruling in Needham
Comment k
Before determining when the comment k exception to strict liability applies, it is necessary to examine the products to which it applies. By its terms, comment k covers “unavoidably unsafe products;” those products which, “in the present state of human knowledge,” are incapable of being made safe for their ordinary and intended use. Unavoidably unsafe products are especially common in the field of drugs.
Comment k separates drugs into three categories.
- An example of the first category is the rabies vaccine. Because it prevents death, marketing and use of the vaccine are “fullyustified” despite the high degree of risk which the vaccine itself presents.
- In the second category are drugs which cannot legally be sold except to a physician or under prescription of a physician.
- The third category consists of new or experimental drugs in which, because of “insufficient time and opportunity for medical experience,” there can be no assurance of safety.
The seller of these three types of products is not to be held strictly liable in tort simply because the seller has undertaken to supply the public with an apparently useful and desirable product, as long as the product is accompanied by proper directions and warnings and is properly prepared.
Comment k, accordingly, has been referred to as an “exception” to strict liability which applies to the sellers of “established” but unavoidably unsafe, and new or experimental drugs. The obvious intent of comment k is to preclude drugs and other inherently dangerous products from being characterized as defective merely because of their inherently dangerous features. Consequently, when a plaintiff sues a drug manufacturer for strict liability in tort for failure to warn of a risk of injury from a drug, the courts and commentators assume that a drug is an unavoidably unsafe product which must be analyzed according to the provisions of comment k. This assumption accurately perceives that all drugs involve some risk of danger, and hence are unavoidably unsafe.
The district court in Needham, therefore, was correct in assuming that dienestrol was an unavoidably unsafe product which should be analyzed within the comment k framework. White Laboratories’ defense throughout the trial was that dienestrol was a new or investigational drug, the dangers of which were unknown in 1952 when plaintiff was exposed to it. If this were true, and if dienestrol were an apparently useful and desirable drug, White Laboratories could escape liability for failure to warn of the danger since it did warn that dienestrol was an investigational drug. If the defendant did know of the risk of harm, the jury could determine that this warning was inadequate.
The district court also properly construed comment k as interpreted by the Illinois Supreme Court in Woodill v. Parke Davis. In that case the court held that when a plaintiff sues a drug manufacturer based on strict liability in tort for failure to warn of a danger the plaintiff must, in accordance with comments j and k, plead and prove that the manufacturer knew or should have known of the risk inherent in the drug. Thus, a drug manufacturer in Illinois cannot be held strictly liable for failure to warn of a risk unless liability can also be based on negligent failure to warn, that is, unless the evidence would support a finding that the seller should have foreseen the danger.
The Woodill decision, however, did not involve a challenge to the drug’s usefulness and the manufacturer’s decision to market it was tacitly assumed to be reasonable despite the attendant risk. Consequently, the comment k knowledge standard was properly applied. Comment k does not, however, limit drug manufacturer liability under all conditions. The protection from strict liability afforded by comment k might be lost if a drug that offered no substantial benefit caused an injury, even if the injury were not foreseeable. Such a drug would be considered unreasonably dangerous as marketed or unreasonably dangerous per se.
To determine whether a drug provides a substantial benefit, and therefore comes within the comment k exception to strict liability, the drug’s benefits or apparent usefulness and desirability must be weighed against its risks. If the “risk/benefit” analysis under comment k renders a product unreasonably dangerous, sale of the drug results in strict liability regardless of the manufacturer’s ignorance of the dangers. Where a seller has marketed an apparently useless drug, the reason for the comment k exception-to give sellers of drugs an incentive to continue producing useful and beneficial drugs-is not present. The seller of such a product should not be entitled to greater protection than the seller of a product which has a manufacturing defect. Society’s interests are not served if an unavoidably unsafe product has a high degree of risk and an occasional or nonexistent benefit, yet enjoys insulation from strict liability in tort despite its predominantly detrimental effects. This is the reason the comment k exception to strict liability requires a predominant character of usefulness-and beneficiality.
Strict liability in tort is particularly appropriate where this beneficial character is lacking in a drug. The drug industry is highly competitive; new drugs must be produced to ensure a drug company’s continued existence. The potential profits from a commercially successful new drug are enormous. In an economic sense then, strict liability is justified by the manufacturer’s superior ability to absorb the costs of minimizing risks and ensuring drug efficacy. Although production of safe and useful drugs can only be accomplished through more extensive testing, which would increase the price of drugs, consumers directly benefit from the availability of a drug whose benefits far outweigh its risks, and from escaping exposure to drugs which are ineffective and dangerous. The possibility of strict liability may provide drug manufacturers with an incentive to market drugs which are effective and beneficial as well as profitable. It may also encourage drug companies to divert a portion of their huge advertising and promotion budgets to researching and testing of their products.
It is readily apparent that the risk/benefit analysis required under comment k to determine whether a product’s marketing was justified, necessitates evidence of the product’s efficacy or lack of efficacy. When the efficacy of a drug is manifestly outweighed by its risks, or is nonexistent, proof of fault-knowledge of a risk of injury and failure to warn-is unnecessary to a finding of liability.
In Needham, the district court ruled that evidence of dienestrol’s lack of efficacy was relevant. A pretrial ruling noted that drugs are commonly considered unavoidably unsafe products under comment k. Citing the language of comment k, the district court noted that such products are not unreasonably dangerous, and therefore do not come within the purview of strict liability, if they are properly prepared and accompanied by directions and warnings:
The seller of unavoidably unsafe products, again with the qualification that they are properly prepared and marketed and a proper warning is given, where the situation calls for it, is not to be held to strict liability for the unfortunate consequences attending their use, merely because he has undertaken to supply the public with an apparently useful and desirable product, attended with a known but apparently reasonable risk.
The district court interpreted this language to mean conversely that strict liability may be imposed upon a manufacturer, irrespective of warnings, if the product at the time of marketing was not apparently useful. Accordingly, evidence of efficacy was relevant to determine whether or not dienestrol was apparently useful when marketed. The precise question to be addressed, in the court’s view, was whether there were sufficient technological experience and testing standards in 1952 to justify the marketing and use of dienestrol. The issue to be resolved was not whether dienestrol was actually useful, but whether dienestrol was apparently useful.
In later opinions, the district court affirmed its ruling that evidence of dienestrol’s ineffectiveness was relevant to foreclose reliance on the lack of knowledge defense provided by comment k. If there was no reason to believe in 1952 that dienestrol was useful in preventing threatened or habitual abortion, the court reasoned, the marketing of dienestrol was not justified. Consequently, the comment k curtailment of the normal strict liability standard could not be applied. The absence of any apparent utility would render the drug unreasonably dangerous, and irrespective of its knowledge of dienestrol’s danger, White Laboratories could be held strictly liable in tort. Evidence of efficacy was deemed crucial to the case and its omission, in the court’s view, could require reversal.
Strict Liability Based on a Drug Defect
To recover under section 402A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts, a plaintiff must prove that the proximate cause of his or her injury was a defect in the product which rendered the product unreasonably dangerous. The rationale for imposing strict liability is set forth in comment c:
The seller, by marketing his product for use and consumption, has undertaken and assumed a special responsibility toward any member of the consuming public who may be injured by it; that the public has the right to and does expect, in the case of products which it needs and for which it is forced to rely upon the seller, that reputable sellers will stand behind their goods.
Public policy demands that the burden of accidental injuries caused by products intended for consumption be placed upon those who market them, and be treated as a cost of production against which liability insurance can be obtained.
Certainly, drugs are necessary products for which the consumer must rely upon the seller who markets them for consumption. Thus it would seem that a drug manufacturer has a special responsibility under section 402A to a member of the consuming public who is injured by its drug. The design and manufacturing process must yield a product which reflects the proper balance of efficiency and safety. The Restatement test to determine whether particular risks posed by a product make it defective and unreasonably dangerous is whether the article is more dangerous than would be contemplated by the reasonably informed consumer. Under this test, drugs which are ineffective and unsafe would be defective and unreasonably dangerous.
Design Defects
The defect asserted by the plaintiff in Needham was that dienestrol was ineffective and unreasonably dangerous as marketed for its intended use. This description comes within the Restatement’s consumer-expectation definition of a defective and unreasonably dangerous product. The difficulty with using the Restatement test in a prescription drug case is that the consumer does not purchase the drug directly from the seller, but through a learned intermediary, the prescribing physician. Substituting the word “physician” for “consumer” would resolve this difficulty. If the risks of a drug manifestly outweigh its benefits, the drug is dangerous beyond the extent contemplated by either the consumer or the prescribing physician.
The drug was in the condition the manufacturer intended, hence the injury resulting from its use can be analogized to an injury caused by a defect in design. In a design defect case, the product conforms to the manufacturer’s plan or design, but certain intended characteristics render the product not reasonably safe. In the case of drugs, something in the formula makes the product dangerous. In a strict liability sense, the product defect in drugs is, in most instances, due to a laggard approach to research design formulation. Design defect claims protect the consumer’s interest in avoiding exposure to a product posing risks which so far outweigh its benefits that it should not continue to be marketed.
Although the definition of defect in a drug may differ from the definition of defect in a machine, the theory of strict liability is the same in both cases. 190 As Justice Traynor cogently noted:
If we scrutinize deviations from a norm of safety as a basis for imposing liability, should we not scrutinize all the more the product whose norm is danger? Such scrutiny is especially sensible for drugs for which a reasonably safe substitute exists. Thalidomide sleeping pills afford a recent dramatic example of such a dangerous product. Other drugs, which must be used despite the danger, perhaps should be treated differently.
Despite a lack of negligence, public policy demands that responsibility be fixed wherever it will most effectively reduce the hazards to life and health inherent in defective drug products. The responsibility is appropriately fixed on the drug manufacturer because “the manufacturer can anticipate some hazards and guard against the occurrence of others as the public cannot. In addition to being in a superior position to reduce the injury, the manufacturer is in the best position to spread the cost of the injury; the consumer can least afford the devastating impact of disability.
Where a product is inherently unsafe, strict liability requires that the marketer face the test of usefulness and reasonable purpose for the product in the marketplace. ‘To the degree a product is unsafe, a similar degree of justification will have to be found for offering it for use or consumption.” Marketing a drug which lacks therapeutic potential is unreasonable when that drug also presents a risk of harm. ‘The less effective a drug is, the more its risks become unreasonable.” This formulation is reflected in the design defect theory articulated by the California courts. Other courts have held that proof of the manufacturer’s fault is unnecessary where the efficacy of the drug is manifestly outweighed by its risks’ -the drug is defective and unreasonably dangerous in a strict liability sense.
Illinois courts have defined defective products to be those products which are dangerous because they fail to perform in the manner reasonably to be expected in light of their nature and intended function. Proof that, in the absence of abnormal use or reasonable secondary causes, the product failed so to perform establishes a prima facie case that the product was defective. Whether a product has failed to perform in the manner that would reasonably have been expected, and whether this failure caused plaintiff’s injury, are questions for the jury. Although the Illinois cases that produced this definition involved hammers, ladders, and brakes, the strict liability principles articulated in these design defect cases apply as well to defects in the design of drugs. The policy reasons for imposing strict liability are the same in each instance.
The strict liability rationale was set forth in Suvada v. White Motor Co. before Illinois adopted the Restatement view of strict liability. In Suvada the supreme court discussed the rationale in terms of the consumption of food, but the reasoning is especially applicable to drugs. First, the public interest in human life and health demands all the protection the law can give against unwholesome food. This policy applies equally to unwholesome drugs–drugs which are of questionable efficacy and a high risk of harm. Second, the manufacturer solicits and invites the use of its product by packaging, advertising, or otherwise representing to the public that it is safe and suitable for use. With respect to drugs, the inducement is aimed at the prescribing physician, who then orders the drug for the consumer.
Third, the losses caused by unwholesome food should be borne by those who have created the risk and reaped the profit by placing the product in the stream of commerce. In the case of drugs, the manufacturer’s high profits and few losses render this reason particularly forceful, especially since the profits are justified by asserting that a risk exists in developing new drugs. Moreover, where a drug manufacturer has placed a drug on the market which has been inadequately tested for efficacy and safety, the manufacturer has certainly created the risk. Consequently, the manufacturer should bear the losses caused by the drug. To quote Suvada:
It seems obvious that public interest in human life and health, the invitations and solicitations to the doctors to prescribe the product for a consumer] and the justice of imposing the loss on the one creating the risk and reaping the profit are present and as compelling in cases involving motor vehicles, food, and other products, where the defective condition makes them unreasonably dangerous to the user, as they are in drug cases.
The strict liability principles were later affirmed by the Illinois Supreme Court in Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. v. Williams Machine and Tool Co . The court asserted that the major purpose of strict liability is to place the loss caused by defective products on those who create the risk and reap the profit from placing defective products on the market. This rationale should apply to drug actions which assert strict liability based on a defect.
Efficacy Evidence
It is readily apparent that to determine whether a product is defective, evidence of efficacy or lack of efficacy together with evidence of danger is necessary. For example, in one product defect case, evidence of both brake failure and brake effectiveness was introduced to determine whether the product failed to perform in the manner reasonably to be expected in light of its nature and intended function. Similarly, evidence of efficacy must be presented in addition to evidence of dangers in a drug defect case to determine whether a drug performed in a manner reasonably to be expected. Accordingly, the district court correctly ruled that evidence of efficacy was relevant to plaintiff’s claim for strict liability based on a defect. The plaintiff claimed that the drug was defective because it was not safe for its intended use and was ineffective. Consequently, dienestrol failed to perform in the manner reasonably to be expected in light of its nature and intended function.
The district court relied on the Illinois Supreme Court’s refusal in Woodill v. Parke Davis & Co. to impose a requirement that defendant have knowledge of the potential danger in design defect cases. The district court also referred to the Woodill court’s reliance on the comment k balancing of benefits against risks and, citing Cunningham v. MacNeal Memorial Hospital, noted that if the product was not “one of those useful but unavoidably dangerous” products described in comment k, then liability could be imposed “even in the absence of the knowledge of the dangers involved.” The district court concluded that the principles of strict liability based on a defect remained substantively unchanged by the Woodill decision. Unfortunately, the court expressed no opinion on whether the evidence would have supported a verdict for plaintiff on the defect theory. The district court merely reaffirmed its ruling that efficacy evidence was admissible under this theory.
Authority for the District Court’s Ruling
Cunningham v. MacNeal Memorial Hospital involved a transfusion of blood contaminated by hepatitis virus. The Illinois Supreme Court held the hospital supplier of the blood strictly liable and refused to apply the comment k exception for unavoidably unsafe products. The court held that blood containing hepatitis virus is impure and therefore in an unreasonably dangerous defective condition. Comment k was construed to apply only to products which are not impure and which, even if properly prepared, involve substantial inherent risk of injury to the user.
Later, in Woodill v. Parke Davis & CO., the Illinois Supreme Court referred to the distinction between strict liability based on a defect in a product “such as was involved in [Cunningham]” and an unavoidably unsafe product such as the one involved in Woodill. Woodill made it clear that the knowledge of risk requirement was not a “weakening” of the Cunningham rule that proof of a defect suffices for strict liability ; comment k applies only to unavoidably unsafe products. The court also refused to extend the knowledge requirement to design defect cases.
The district court interpreted the Woodill court’s reaffirmation of Cunningham as authority for premising strict liability for a drug injury on a defect in the drug. The defect in dienestrol was not an impurity, as in Cunningham, but rather a design defect. The court therefore inferred that Cunningham’s applicability to strict liability actions for other types of defects such as design defects should be broadly construed. There is language in Woodil1 and in another drug case, Lawson v. G.D. Searle, which supports this inference. Interpreting this language together with the strict liability principles articulated in design defect cases involving products other than drugs, it is reasonable to conclude that the Illinois courts would uphold a claim based on a design defect in a drug such as that alleged in Needham. Consequently, the admission of efficacy evidence on this basis was correct.
Reversal by the Court of Appeals
Comment k Risk/Benefit Analysis
On appeal, the Seventh Circuit criticized the district court’s ruling on the admissibility of efficacy evidence as an erroneous interpretation of Illinois law. In the Seventh Circuit’s view, only three possible kinds of defective products could result in strict liability in Illinois, and none of these include the design defect:
- a product contaminated by an impurity;228
- a product unaccompanied by a warning of the product’s dangerous propensities, also called a comment j case;229
- and a product which is accompanied by a warning but in which the risk of danger outweighs the benefit of use, also described as a comment k case.
The court further explained that a comment k case exists only where the manufacturer warns of the danger, and yet the product remains dangerous even if the warning is followed. Evidence of efficacy is relevant, in the Seventh Circuit’s opinion, only to this third kind of defect, a comment k case. Only here is it necessary to weigh the drug’s apparent usefulness against its risk to determine whether the drug is unreasonably dangerous. The court found it necessary to adopt another jurisdiction’s analysis of comment k since the Illinois Supreme Court had not “yet decided a comment k case” but had only “commented” on the applicability of comment k to products which are not impure and involve substantial inherent risk of injury even if properly prepared.
Citing Woodill, the Seventh Circuit determined that comment j, rather than comment k, governed the Needham action because no warning accompanied dienestrol. Efficacy evidence was therfore held to be irrelevant to the “dispositive issue,” in the case: Wihether White should be held liable for its failure to warn of the risk of cancer to offspring of pregnant women who ingested Dienestrol.
The Court of Appeals reasoning is faulty for several reasons. First, it ignores the existence of liability for a design defect in Illinois. Second, the court incorrectly interpreted Illinois case law to distinguish between comment k and comment j cases. Third, the court erroneously asserted that the Illinois Supreme Court had not yet decided a comment k case. Fourth, the court ignored the new-drug provisions of comment k which apply to dienestrol.
Comment k and Comment j
Illinois drug cases based on strict liability for failure to warn do not support the Seventh Circuit’s distinction between comments j and k. The Illinois courts have not dichotomized the comments to apply comment j only in cases where a warning of a risk is lacking, and comment k only in cases where a warning is given. Rather, the Illinois courts have construed comments j and k together to determine that a manufacturer of a beneficial drug must have actual or constructive knowledge of a risk of danger before it can be held strictly liable for failure to warn of that risk.
Furthermore, it is simply incorrect to say that Illinois has not yet decided a comment k case. Several Illinois drug cases based on strict liability for failure to warn have expressly relied on comment k to resolve the issues. In Woodill v. Parke Davis & Co , the Illinois Supreme Court placed great reliance on comment k for resolution of the strict liability failure to warn issue. Despite the absence of a warning accompanying the drug, the court, adopting comment k language, described the product as an unavoidably unsafe product. Other drug cases reveal a tacit assumption by Illinois courts that prescription drugs, by their nature, are unavoidably unsafe products which must be analyzed according to the provisions of comment k. A discussion of Woodill will exemplify these issues.
In Woodill, the plaintiff sued the drug manufacturer, alleging strict liability for failure to warn physicians and consumers of the danger in using the drug pitocin to induce labor in pregnant women when the fetus is in a certain position. As in Needham, there was no warning given about this danger. The court, nevertheless, characterized pitocin as an unavoidably unsafe product. In so doing, it did not distinguish between comnients j and k, but did distinguish between the nonapplicability of comment k in strict liability defective product cases. Citing Cunningham, the Woodill court stated:
Later in Cunningham we distinguished between strict liability based on a defect in a product, such as was involved therein, and where, as here, warning may be required because a product is unavoidably unsafe. We referred to the “exception” created by comment k to Section 402A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts: k. Unavoidably Unsafe Products.
There are some products which, in the present state of human knowledge, are quite incapable of being made safe for their intended and ordinary use. These are especially common in the field of drugs. An outstanding example is the vaccine for the Pasteur treatment of rabies, which not uncommonly leads to very serious and damaging consequences when it is injected. Since the disease itself invariably leads to a dreadful death, both the marketing and the use of the vaccine are fully justified …. Such a product, properly prepared, and accompanied by proper directions and warning, is not defective, nor is it unreasonably dangerous …. We believe it clear that the exception set forth in the quoted comment relates only to products which are not impure and which, even if properly prepared, inherently involve substantial risk of injury to the user.
The Woodill court went on to hold:
Therefore, the pleading requirement that a manufacturer know or should know of the dangerous propensity of the product is limited to complaints which allege a breach of the duty to warn adequately. Whether it is necessary to allege knowledge where liability is predicated on the defective design of the product is not before us.
The Woodill discussion of the knowledge requirement is replete with references to the language of comment k. For example, to describe the pleading and proof requirements of a strict liability failure to warn action, the court stated that “the inquiry becomes whether the manufacturer, because of the ‘present state of human knowledge, . . . knew or should have known of the danger presented by the use or consumption of the product. Again using the language of comment k, the court expressed one of the reasons for imposing the knowledge limitation: If a manufacturer is held liable for failure to warn of a danger which it would be impossible to know about “based on the present state of human knowledge,” then the manufacturer would become “an insurer of its product. Finally, in language which parallels the rationale of comment k, the court set forth the policy reasons for imposition of a knowledge requirement in strict liability failure to warn cases:
This court is acutely aware of the social desirability of encouraging the research and development of beneficial drugs. We are equally aware that risks, often grave, may accompany the introduction of these drugs into the market place. We simply think, however, in accordance with comments j and k of Section 402A… that where liability is framed by the manufacturer’s duty to warn adequately of dangers which may arise from the use of a drug that liability should be based on there being some manner in which to know of the danger.
The Illinois appellate court also has relied “particularly” on comment k to conclude that “without doubt, Section 402A… comment k, discloses that a prescription drug may be deemed unreasonably dangerous if it is manufactured and distributed without adequate warnings … .- Implicit in this formulation is the assumption that comment k applies to all prescription drugs because these products are inherently dangerous by nature and therefore unavoidably unsafe products. The presence or absence of warnings determines whether the useful product is unreasonably dangerous, not whether it is unavoidably unsafe. Before a warning is required under Woodill, however, the manufacturer of a beneficial drug must have known or have been able to discover the risk of danger. If knowledge of a risk exists and a warning is provided, the product is not unreasonably dangerous; if such knowledge exists but a warning is not given, the product is unreasonably dangerous.
Woodill’s reliance on comment k belies the notion that it can be characterized as a comment j, as opposed to a comment k case. Woodill also demonstrates that a warning is not a prerequisite to comment k applicability. The Seventh Circuit’s conclusions concerning comment k directly oppose those of the Illinois Supreme Court. Although the Seventh Circuit recognized its responsibility to apply the substantive law of Illinois, it evaded this obligation.
To justify the application of another jurisdiction’s substantive law, the Seventh Circuit simply asserted that the Illinois Supreme Court had not decided a comment k case. Perhaps what the court meant was that the fllinois courts had not been confronted with a case like Needham, that is, a strict liability failure to warn action in which the plaintiff claimed that the drug involved was not beneficial-not an apparently useful product-in addition to asserting that it posed a risk of harm about which there was no warning. Consequently, Illinois courts have not been asked to balance a drug’s risk of harm against its benefits to determine whether the manufacturer’s decision to market the drug was justified. In the Illinois drug cases decided thus far, the drug has been presumed to be beneficial. Thus the comment k rationale for imposing a knowledge requirement applies to those cases, and the courts accordingly have imposed liability in these circumstances in accordance with the comment k exception to strict liability: The manufacturer of a beneficial drug is liable for failure to warn only of known dangers.
It seems likely, however, that if the Illinois Supreme Court were faced with a challenge to a drug’s benefits, it would resolve the issue using efficacy evidence, in the same manner as other courts have resolved it. If, as in Needham, the drug’s risks manifestly outweigh its benefits, then under the comment k analysis, the knowledge requirement, which protects or excepts the manufacturer from strict liability, would not be applied. In relaxing the strict liability rule in failure to warn cases, the Woodill court clearly indicated that the underlying policy of this rule was to favor the development of beneficial drugs. Conversely, then, if a drug’s benefits were manifestly outweighed by its risk, that is, if the drug were ineffective and caused serious harm, the policy favoring the development of beneficial drugs would not be furthered by allowing comment k protection to the manufaturer. The manufacturer would be held strictly liable for failure to warn, irrespective of its knowledge of dangers.
The Seventh Circuit’s Comment k Analysis
Instead of applying Illinois law, the Seventh Circuit adopted the comment k analysis articulated in Reyes v. Wyeth Laboratories, which it mistakenly interpreted as a case in which a warning of risks is given and yet the product remains dangerous even if the warning is followed. The manufacturer is exempt from liability only if the product’s benefits outweigh its risks. In Reyes, however, no warning was provided, although the risk of danger was known. Nevertheless, the court found that the vaccine was an unavoidably unsafe product and thus that comment k applied. Because no warning as to the vaccine’s dangers was provided, the Reyes court held Wyeth Laboratories strictly liable under a comment k analysis. The Seventh Circuit was therefore mistaken in indicating that a warning must have been given for comment k to be applicable.
In analyzing the issue within the comment k framework, the Reyes court first determined whether the vaccine was unreasonably dangerous per se by determining whether marketing it was justified despite the danger involved in its use. After concluding that marketing the vaccine was justified, the court went on to decide whether the drug was unreasonably dangerous as marketed, which in a drug case translates to “a duty to provide proper warnings.”
According to the Reyes comment k analysis, the first, rather than last, step is to determine whether the drug’s apparent usefulness outweighs its known risk. If it does, then the marketing of the drug is justified; if it does not, the drug is unreasonably dangerous per se. At this juncture, the question of warnings, whether given or not, need not be addressed. To determine whether a product is unreasonably dangerous per se, it is apparent that evidence of efficacy or lack of efficacy must be adduced. Without this evidence, it is impossible to determine whether the drug’s apparent usefulness outweighs its known risks. Thus, under Reyes, the evidence of dienestrol’s ineffectiveness clearly was not irrelevant or prejudicial. Rather, this evidence was a crucial aspect of the case. The Reyes analysis supports the district court’s ruling that evidence of dienestrol’s efficacy or lack of efficacy is relevant to the Needham action.
If the Seventh Circuit had correctly applied the Reyes court’s analysis to the facts adduced during the Needham trial, it would be hard pressed to escape the conclusion that dienestrol was unreasonably dangerous per se. As of 1952, the efficacy of dienestrol in preventing threatened abortion was admittedly “controversial” according to White Laboratories’ medical director, and White Laboratories was aware that other scientists had concluded that dienestrol was a dismal failure. Thus, White Laboratories knew or should have known that dienestrol was not apparently useful. The additional knowledge that DES-related estrogens such as dienestrol caused tumor formation and abnormal anatomical changes in the offspring of pregnant animals, as well as cancer, leads to the conclusion that the known risks far outweighed its benefits. Even if the Seventh Circuit viewed animal studies as inconclusive proof of actual danger to humans, the jury was entitled to believe the testimony of plaintiff’s experts that animal studies were viewed as reliable indicators of risks to humans. Although the Needham district court did not make a finding as to the sufficiency of the efficacy evidence, it did find that the evidence supported a jury verdict for plaintiff on the basis of White Laboratories’ knowledge of the risk of cancer to female offspring exposed in utero to dienestrol. The Seventh Circuit did not refute this finding. Under the Reyes analysis, the evidence presented at the Needham trial established that White Laboratories’ decision to market dienestrol was not justified. Given the gravity of the potential harm, the controversial and questionable efficacy of dienestrol could not possibly be found to outweigh its known risk. Dienestrol is unreasonably dangerous per se within the meaning of Reyes.
Another Seventh Circuit View of Comment k: Singer v. Sterling Drug
The requirement that comment k be applied only when the manufacturer has warned of the risk and the product remains dangerous even if the warning is followed is supported by the Seventh Circuit’s earlier decision in Singer v. Sterling Drug, which established two classifications of drugs which fall within the comment k exception to strict liability. First, comment k applies to drugs in which there is a known but apparently reasonable risk of injury and the user has been warned of the risk. An example of this drug is the Pastuer vaccine for rabies. The second class to which comment k applies is the new or experimental drug for which there is no knowledge of risk and the user has been warned that the drug is new or experimental. An example of this type of drug is dienestrol.
The Seventh Circuit’s decision in Needham addresses only the first category of comment k drugs; the second category is notably missing from the court’s discussion of comment k. This omission is significant because White Laboratories relied on the second category as a defense. Throughout the trial, White Laboratories maintained that knowledge of dienestrol’s risks had not and could not be discovered in 1952, and that White Laboratories had warned that the use of dienestrol in the treatment of threatened abortion was investigational. The Seventh Circuit simply ignored this evidence and did not address the second comment k category formulated in Singer. In categorizing comment k drugs in two classes, Singer itself made a notable omission. The text of comment k refers to prescription drugs, which Singer ignored, apparently because the court viewed with disfavor the applicability of the comment k knowledge requirement in all prescription drug cases based on strict liability for failure to warn. The Woodill court imposes this requirement on all failure to warn cases which involve beneficial drugs. Thus, Singer rejects the underlying premise of Woodill, and therefore is questionable authority for Illinois strict liability law.
Strict Liability Based on a Defect
In Needham, the plaintiff’s second theory of strict liability was that dienestrol was defective because it was useless and unreasonably dangerous. The Seventh Circuit held that the district court’s alternative ruling, which allowed evidence of lack of efficacy to prove dienestrol defective, was not supported by Cunningham v. MacNeal Memorial Hospital. The district court relied on Woodill to support its view that the knowledge of risk requirement applied in strict liability failure to warn cases, and that the usual rule in other strict liability cases, that proof of a defect suffices, remained undisturbed. Cunningham was cited as authority for the usual strict liability rule that proof of a defect is sufficient. The district court’s interpretation was correct. The Woodill court clearly stated that it was not imposing a knowledge requirement in either a product defect or design defect case. In reaching this decision, the Woodill court cited the Cunningham distinction between strict liability based on a defect and strict liability based on the manufacturer’s failure to warn, and noted that comment k only applied to the failure to warn action.
Despite the Woodill references to defect cases such as Cunningham, and to design defect cases, the Seventh Circuit essentially held that an impurity such as that in Cunningham was the only kind of product defect on which strict liability could be based. Since the plaintiff in Needham did not claim that dienestrol contained any impurity as did the plaintiff in Cunningham, the Cunningham case did not “govern.” The Seventh Circuit interpreted the district court’s citation to Cunningham as a ruling that an ineffective product is a defective product. Citing section 402A, the Seventh Circuit held that ineffectiveness of a product is not actionable under strict liability theory.
The district court, however, had not ruled that plaintiff’s case was governed by Cunningham. Rather, the district court extrapolated from Cunningham the principle that proof of a defect, without proof of knowledge of the defect, is sufficient to establish strict liability based on that defect. Likewise, the district court did not hold that an ineffective product is necessarily a defective product. The plaintiff’s alternate theory of strict liability was premised on the claim that dienestrol was defective because it was ineffective and unreasonably dangerous. If the drug was both ineffective and the cause of plaintiff’s cancer, as the jury was instructed, then the drug was defective. The theory is supported by Illinois case law. To distinguish between an ineffective drug and an ineffective brake, both of which subsequently cause injury, is not legally justified for purposes of strict liability.
The real difference between these products is in their nature; the brake is only dangerous if it is ineffective, while the drug is always potentially dangerous. A drug is ingested despite its danger because it is an effective therapeutic agent against some other harm. Such a drug is not unreasonably dangerous. If, however, the drug does not prevent some other harm, that is, if it is useless, then the danger it poses is unreasonable. In the first situation there is reason for exposing oneself to potential danger-the drug is taken to avoid some other harm. If the drug does not prevent this other harm, then it follows that it is not reasonable to expose oneself to the drug’s potential dangers. Such a drug is unreasonably dangerous.
These differences in the kinds of product defects are not of sufficient import to deny strict liability for drug defects. The response of the courts can be either to adhere rigidly to prior doctrines, denying recovery to those injured by such products, or to fashion remedies to meet these changes. From a strict liability policy standpoint, the manufacturer of drugs is better able to bear the cost of injuries resulting from defective products. The manufacturer is in the best position to test for and discover, as well as guard against, defects in its products. The threat of strict liability will provide an incentive to produce safer drugs. The drug-consuming public needs protection from defective drug products. The Seventh Circuit’s holding creates a blanket protection from strict liability for drug manufacturers who develop, promote, and profit from an ineffective and dangerous drug. This decision is contrary to Illinois strict liability consumer protection goals.
CONCLUSION
The protection afforded by comment k to drug manufacturers applies only if the drug’s benefits outweigh its risks. Where a plaintiff challenges the manufacturer’s decision to market the drug as unjustified by asserting that the drug is not beneficial, evidence of efficacy or inefficacy is relevant to decide the claim. If the decision to market the drug was not justified because its apparent usefulness was outweighed by its risks the manufacturer loses the protection of comment k and may be held strictly liable. Comment k protection was intended for manufacturers of beneficial drugs only.
On the other hand, if a drug had no apparent usefulness and it caused injury, the manufacturers may be held strictly liable for manufacturing a defective product in an unreasonably dangerous condition. The result under either theory, the loss of comment k protection, is the same, and evidence of efficacy or lack of efficacy is relevant to both theories. These theories are supported by Illinois case law and by decisions in other jurisdictions.
Moreover, the imposition of strict liability on the drug manufacturer who develops, promotes, and profits from an apparently useless and dangerous drug is a just result. It would be manifestly unfair to thrust upon the consumer the burden of paying for the treatment of injuries caused by such drugs. The high profits and few losses in the drug industry reveal that a drug company is in a better position than the injured consumer to absorb and spread the cost of compensating for drug injuries. It is time to make the justification for these high drug profits a reality; manufacturers who develop, for profit, apparently useless and dangerous drugs must also accept the risk in such developments. The district court’s ruling promotes this goal; the Seventh Circuit’s decision defeats it. The Needham reversal signified another victory for the drug companies, and yet another disaster for the consumer.
The Seventh Circuit’s opinion in effect allows drug companies to develop and sell useless drugs with no concern about whether or not these drugs are dangerous, since the manufacturers will not be strictly liable in tort for injuried caused by such drugs. And as long as neither the drug manufacturer nor anyone else tests for the drug’s dangers, the manufacturer will not be liable for failure to warn because it will not know of the danger until some time after the drug has been on the marketin the case of cancer, perhaps twenty years. During this time the manufacturer will have made an enormous profit. Of course, one would assume that after the manufacturer learns of injury caused by its product, it would warn consumers of the danger. But if the birth control pill experience is any indication, this assumption is grossly naive. The risk of cancer from estrogen consumption has only recently surfaced in the warnings accompanying the pill. Time may well prove that the development and promotion of estrogen products has been the greatest fraud ever perpetrated by drug companies. The courts should allow the victims of DES injuries to bring strict liability actions based either on a theory of defect or of failure to warn. Evidence of efficacy or usefulness should be deemed pivotal in such actions. Strict liability for drug injuries should exist in fact, not just in theory.
Mary E. Kelly, 1981.
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